Saturday, 20 June 2015

My first post

My name is Charlotte.

It’s probably too early in my life to ask me who and what I expect to be in 10 years time because I honestly don’t know. But for now I’m going to tell you about what I love. Writing. It’s that simple. I love writing and how it makes me feel like I understand the world a little bit better if I can describe something as simple as a flower. What I also love about writing is that so many people have done it before me. For as long as people have had the words to articulate it we have had stories and I think they show something fundamentally beautiful in the human race. We all want our lives known, our stories told.

Who can talk about storytelling in the modern day without mentioning films? I think they are a fantastic new medium in which we can see a story. But for me the best thing will always be reading because whilst you can see the story in a film, you can feel the story in a book. It is so much more personal and the connections between the characters and the reader last far longer than any film will. That’s also what I love about books. They will last. In 100 years, who is going to say “I really fancy watching Mamma Mia” or Malificent or Harry Potter… ok, I take that back, Harry Potter is great! But seriously, 100 years on we are still reading and loving the Sherlock Holmes books. And, for me, that is true genius - having the power to captivate a generation and then generations after that.

Everyone writing for this anthology is here for three reasons: Sir Terry Pratchett, Alzheimer's and our joint commitment to the written word and I thank you all for proving that there are people like me out there.

So that’s me - a teenager with no real plans. But that’s ok, I think, because how can you have an epic adventure if you know exactly where you’re going?